User blog:Eddieblake/The Code: Earth Story Part 1
'The Code: Earth Story Part 1.' Code: Earth were a pop-rock band from France. Born out of the ashes of Odd's previous band Pop-Rock Progressives, the original lineup included Odd (vocals/guitars), William (vocals/guitars), Theo (bass), Aelita (keyboards), Yumi (multi-instrumentalist), Thomas (drums), and Emmanuel (percussion). Later members included Ulrich (keyboards), Nicholas (drums), Brynja (saxophone), Matthieu (vocals/guitars), and Solana (multi-instrumentalist). Despite the band's success, fame wasn't without its flaws. Tension plagued the band during the making of their fifth album, which lead to the departure of founding member William Dunbar following the tour. Following both his and Brynja's departure, the band recruited Matthieu Ducrocq and Solana Stern and released two more albums as well as a Christmas album before calling it a day. Code: Earth lead to two spin-off bands: Psycho Tsunami (lead by William) and Mystic Zone (lead by Odd). Following the win against XANA and the shutting down of the supercomputer, Odd was stuck as what to do next. With no plans to reunite the Pop Rock Progressives, he went about starting a new band. Despite the naysayers, he was determined to make this succeed. Two weeks before the band were to start the European leg of the tour; Thomas left the band, only to be coerced back a few days later by Odd and William. Desptie the great performances night after night, the album only reached modest sales. But Odd and William had a belief both in the band and that better things were on the horizon. But it was during this leg of the tour that Thomas began experiencing depression. Meanwhile, Yumi had begun to miss her family and was keen to get back home to see them. One night, before leaving for the show, Yumi told Aelita she was leaving the band. Meanwhile, Thomas’s mental health continued to decline. On the final night of the Amsterdam leg of the tour, Thomas's depression was becoming a real problem. As soon as the encore finished, he left the stage and went back to the dressing room. Emmanuel saw this occur and followed him to see what was wrong. When he got to the dressing room, he saw Thomas with tears in his eyes. What happened after that is as follows: (EMMANUEL) Are you alright, Thomas? (THOMAS, crying) I can’t do this anymore. I’ve gotta leave the band. (EMMANUEL) You may as well do it now. (THOMAS) Thanks, man. On the plane back home, Thomas sat by himself and did not speak to the rest of the band for the whole flight. Once they returned home, Thomas said goodbye and returned to a normal life. But another bombshell hit them when Yumi announced she too was leaving the band in order to spend time with her family. It was at this point that Odd and William seemed resigned to the band’s demise until Yumi suggested they hire ex-''Pop-Rock Progressives'' members Nicholas Poliakoff and Ulrich Stern. The rest of the band agreed and both Ulrich and Nicholas were welcomed into the band. With Nicholas bringing his great talent for drumming and Ulrich agreeing to share keyboard duties with Aelita, it was like a whole new band. This would quickly become, among the fans at least, the band's most popular lineup. One standout track from their second album Mental Thoughts was a cover by Ulrich of Message to my Girl. This quickly became a favourite of Odd and Ulrich's as well as a hit with the crowds during the band's live performances. Other standouts would be Aelita's covers of I Hope I Never and Voices. The latter being the first track to feature future band member Solana Stern on saxophone. But while the band were enjoying its success, back home former drummer Thomas was not doing so well. His depression had hit a point that he turned to drugs to numb the pain. (...) By the final week of the tour, the fatigue began to set in. At the end of the last performance, poor Nicholas collapsed on his drum kit. The band was keen to escape the drudgery of the past few months. Especially William who was secretly planning to do something outside the confines of the band. With no plans to record another album anytime soon, they decided to take a three-month holiday. Meanwhile, in an attempt to help Thomas kick his addiction, his parents and his new girlfriend checked him into rehab. While the doctors there were able to treat his drug addiction, it was the news that came after this that would leave him devastated. His excessive drug use had caused brain damage and an abnormal heart rate. To regulate his heart rate, Thomas would be fitted with a pacemaker. Category:Blog posts